Register ignores facts in weakly endorsing Ako
Friday, October 27, 2006
The DM register slighted all the candidates in an attempt to feel better about endorsing Ako, supposedly on the issue of education. Apparently the only issue that they were looking for was someone that would guarantee education spending would grow at 2-3 times inflation. There are other more pressing issues with our education system that an expanding government check will not cover. Below is a recent letter to a concerned citizen in district 66 that lays out my plans for improving education and closing the achievement gap for minority students.
Dave writes: "The question I lay before you is do you agree that we need to upgrade our education program to maintain a higher retention rate? If you agree what exactly will you do to maintain the education level to a higher standard and maintain a higher graduation rate for the city of Des Moines ? Does this also include a pay raise for the educators, and also better equipment to teach the students. Drop outs are my main focal point and being able to get the kids to maintain there interest in school to finally graduate without a GED. Let me know what points you agree with and disagree with?"
I agree with you that education is a foundation for excelling and a lack of an education especially some form of high school equivalency sets people up for a much more difficult road in life and is linked to many of the problems that we see in district 66. I believe that the key to maintaining better retention rates in our high schools is to teach the fundamentals of reading and math in grade schools. To this end I support small class sizes, especially for grades k-4 when early fundamentals are taught and children may be learning at different rates and learning disabilities can most readily be identified and remedied.
As you know the DM school board recently voted to close downtown grade schools. The reason given was poor performance. This speaks to two major problems that I believe need to be recognized by the state. First we need to decentralize these large school systems and give the power back to the families that are in direct contact with the teachers and students at these schools. The families in these neighborhoods are sick that their children will now have to travel farther to attend larger classes with teachers that the parents do not know. The second issue that needs to be raised is that the only option given for improving these schools was to close them. There is no option under current rules to fire poor performing teachers and inspire high achieving teachers.
As a Libertarian, I believe that educating people is freeing people. Throughout the history of the United States, if you could read you had a chance to be free. Abraham Lincoln credits the person that taught him to read. Over and over again, the key to success for slaves that were yearning to be free was learning to read. If you can read, you can teach yourself, if need be, to do math, understand the law, evaluate science, write and inspire your fellow man. The current achievement gap for minorities is the greatest weakness in our educational system and gravest threat to our democratic system of government.
As you rightly show, the effects of these problems show up as dropout high rates in high-school and have caused an increase in the number of people relying on further education in order to take a high school equivalency exam. I believe firmly in the benefits of a GED to for any student, but especially those that grow up in conditions that I find utterly unbelievable due to the effects of drugs, crime and poverty. The GED lets these young people lift up their heads, knowing that they have achieved an education and a diploma. It lets them consider other options available to them besides the life of crime and drugs and depression that many of them came from. To this end, I believe that we should require our young men and women that fall into the jail system, to achieve the GED before they are eligible for early parole. Many youths that do not fully understand the need for education and see crime or gangs as an opportunity, end up in jail, only to come out of jail 2-3 years later when all of their peers have finished high school or even junior college and they have only learned more skills in drug running and crime. We need to help them break the loop of poor education, poverty and crime that they are living within.
As to the level of teacher salaries and equipment in our schools, I believe that it is important that we are able to attract talented people and give them the tools that they need. I also believe that throwing money at the problem without giving power to local districts does little to improve the system. Government is not good at handling money; it can be good at setting standards and demanding excellence. This is too important of an issue for the children currently in grade school and high school to just sit back and hope that opening a checkbook will take care of the issues. The teachers that I know personally, do their job because they love working with children, they want to excel and they want their students to excel, now is the time to provide leadership and to find ways to reward excellence.
Thank you to you and your family for your commitment to education.
Sincerely,
Brett Blanchfield
posted by Brett Blanchfield @ 7:45 AM,
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Brett Blanchfield
I'm Brett Blanchfield From Des Moines, Iowa, United States Hi, I have a background in agricultural economics and currently work for Principal in commercial appraisal review. My wife vanessa also works downtown and we recently welcomed our first child, through adoption from South Korea - Ethan. We just moved out of the downtown lofts and into a house in Sherman Hill.
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